Quote:
Originally Posted by chedder
How good can a player be if he needs the most specific of linemates and systems or else he looks like a Ford Pinto? You put a true top line, play-driving player on any team and that team looks better. This team looks better when Huberdeau isn't on the ice. Sometimes I start to feel sorry for him as he's obviously a proud guy. Then I remember he's being paid 84 million dollars.
|
I think lots of players struggle in different systems at different times. Huberdeau is likely the most expensive and most jarring example of it though.
But guys like Skinner, Brown, Seguin, etc have all had really different offensive production and effectiveness in different systems or structures.
Problem being that in those cases maybe they weren't true play driving forwards. Huberdeau had great production, but was never a guy that was driving strong underlying analytics that usually are associated with playdriving.
He's cheating less, and playing in a more structured and defensively responsible system, and the offense has dried up completely by doing that.
And the Flames don't necessarily need to start cheating, but they do as a team need to figure out how to be more effective off the rush. Generally that's still the best way to generate offense and this team is just terrible at generating offense that way...maybe they should start cheating, the tend to give up a ton of odd man rushes when they make a mistake after their prolonged offensive zone time anyways.